


Nice Guys Finish Last

by SubaruBlue



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: 'cause he's a sweetheart, Baby It's Cold Outside, Dante being Dante, Established Relationship, F/M, Humor, Little bit of Fluff, One Shot, Reader-Insert, but can't pay his bills, can be read with any Dante
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26697922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SubaruBlue/pseuds/SubaruBlue
Summary: After a hard week at work, a weekend at Dante’s is just what the doctor ordered, especially when a snow storm blows into town. Unfortunately for you, Dante is...well, Dante.
Relationships: Dante (Devil May Cry)/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 81





	Nice Guys Finish Last

**Author's Note:**

> This started out completely different, but I hated it. I edited it like 4 times and rewrote the last half and still didn’t like it, so I scrapped the whole thing and started over. This was the end result. Needless to say, I think this version turned out much better.

You hurried down the street, your destination in sight. The bright neon sign of Devil May Cry should have been visible since the snow that was falling around you was light and gentle, but it wasn’t. In fact, the closer you got it seemed that no lights were on in the building. Was Dante even home? He’d said he would be when he stopped by your work earlier to see you, but for all you knew he could have gotten a call and gone out on a job. Though normally, he was pretty good at notifying you if that was the case when you were planning on spending the night.

Knowing the door would be unlocked regardless, and that you could just wait for him inside where it was nice and warm, you trudged through the snow as quickly as you could. You tried to pull your jacket tighter around you to ward off the frigid air, but to no avail. You’d not been prepared for the quick turn the weather had taken and your apparel, jacket included, was not up to par to deal with it in the slightest.

The weatherman had said it was going to be cold. Like dude, really? Cold did not cover _this_. It was freezing outside. Cows were giving ice cream instead of milk. People with heartburn everywhere were cured. Fucking snowmen were gaining sentience so they could migrate south.

You groaned in annoyance. This past week at your work had been hell; so much so that you didn’t even want to _think_ about work for the rest of the weekend. Which is why you were currently planning on spending said weekend wrapped up in the warm arms of your boyfriend. But to top it all off, this sudden snow storm had decided to blow into town a little earlier than anticipated, leaving you to practically freeze to death on the long walk to his shop.

_Gotta keep moving._

As you hurried on, you caught glimpses of the puffs of your breaths, clearly visible, reminding you of just how damn cold it was. You tried to forget about it by thinking of the warm things that awaited you just a block away; the heat of the shop itself, a cup of hot chocolate, the hot shower Dante would let you take, his warm bed, Dante himself...

You let out a frustrated whine when you realized it wasn’t working because your teeth were now chattering. God, you were so cold. Thankfully though, you’d finally reached the steps of the shop. You heaved a great sigh of relief and grabbed the door handle, anticipation of the warm temperature just on the other side making you giddy.

You threw the door open (probably a bit more enthusiastically than necessary, if you were honest) and stepped across the threshold of Dante’s beloved home into the comforting and welcoming feeling of...

_MORE COLD!?_

Immediately upon feeling the frigid temperature of the front office area, you tried to hug your coat around you even tighter. _It’s colder in here than it is outside!_ That thought was probably not quite true, but your brain was too frozen to be concerned about little details like that.

A quick glance around the front office area would normally have shown you whether or not Dante was around, but it was well past dark outside and no lights were on so you could barely see anything, much less your boyfriend. You turned to flick the overhead light on...only to stare dumbly at the little switch when it did nothing. Your face quickly morphed into an expression of annoyance, the reason for the lack of heat in the building now obvious: Dante hadn’t paid his utility bill like he’d said he was going to.

You knew it had been overdue...again, but you really didn’t have the energy to be pedantic about the number of times it had happened previously. He’d already been getting final warning notices from the utility office stating to pay his bill by a certain date or else. He’d said he would be able to pay it after some job he was taking earlier in the week. Obviously, _that_ had fallen through.

You tried to look on the bright side of things (the bright, _warm_ side where you really wished you were right now). At least this meant that he likely wasn’t gone like you’d originally thought might be the case.

“D-D-Dante?” You’re teeth were chattering so much you could barely speak as you stepped further into the office in search of the resident devil hunter.

His reply was immediate; a quick, “Just a sec!” from the kitchen in the back. You could still see your breath puffing out from your mouth (even though you were now inside) and you couldn’t help the despondent groan that let out the biggest puff of all, as if to mock you.

Dante chose that moment to appear in the doorway of his kitchen, holding something you couldn’t really see well with the lack of light. You could at least see him somewhat, and he suddenly looked like he was trying not to laugh at the sight you must have made, wrapped up in a coat not meant for snowy weather and shivering like a leaf. You simply glared at him as best you could, given your current state. You were in no mood to put up with his antics at the moment, especially since it seemed he was completely unaffected by the biting temperature. He was only in his usual getup of boots, pants, shirt, and his signature red jacket and yet he looked as if the temperature was a moderate seventy two degrees. Being half-devil certainly had its perks. This only served to worsen your mood, of course.

He’d barely managed to stifle his laughter before speaking up, “You alright there, babe? You look like you’re about to give me the...cold shoulder.” He was grinning as he said this. You of course, were not, as you resisted the urge to roll your eyes at him. Instead, you opted for yelling at him.

“Dante! What the hell!? You said you were gonna pay your bill!” The frozen feeling in your body was temporarily forgotten in your anger. You watched as a sheepish look crossed his face as he brought his free hand up to scratch the back of his neck.

“Yeah, well, about that...”

“What. About. It.” you spoke through clenched teeth. Partly because of your anger, but also because you were having to clench them together in order to keep the chattering at bay because unfortunately, your anger wasn’t enough to keep you numb to the cold for long. The feeling was already back, full force.

“Remember that job I told you about?” When you nodded stiffly he continued, “Well, the client didn’t end up being able to pay me, so...yeah.” At least now he had the decency to look a bit guilty at your discomfort.

You eyed him suspiciously. You knew he was notorious for not charging for his services at all if clients had trouble paying him. You figured that was most likely the case in this instance as well and you decided to call him on it.

“Couldn’t pay? Or you didn’t make them?” You gave him a look that conveyed you were not in the mood for any bullshit. You were a little surprised though, when he gave a rather dejected sigh, suddenly turning serious.

“I wasn’t gonna charge a single mom trying to raise three kids on her own ‘cause their dad’s a deadbeat,” he said simply.

You felt frozen solid by this point, but that melted your heart a little bit. Okay, well maybe a lot. Dante really was an all-around nice guy. You knew he had a soft spot especially for mothers in situations like that, considering what had happened to his own mother when he was young. Now you could no longer find it in you to be mad at him for his utility problem.

Instead, you gave a wry laugh and shook your head at him. “You’re _way_ too nice, Dante.” He simply shrugged at that, but you were smiling now, despite the constant shivering.

“What can I say? I’m just a nice guy.” He was approaching you, holding his hand out, and you finally took notice of what he held in it. It was one of the mugs from his kitchen (your favorite one to be exact) and there was some steam wafting from the contents inside. You immediately perked up as he offered it to you.

It turned out to be that cup of hot chocolate you’d been thinking about on your way over. You decided not to wonder about how he’d made it without electricity as you took the mug gratefully. The heat from the sweet liquid warmed your hands through the ceramic as you held it.

“Luckily, that’s one of the reasons I love you.” You took a sip, sighing as you felt the hot liquid flowing through you, starting to warm you up. Then, you gave him a coy smile. “But that’s not enough to make me stay in this freezer you call a shop tonight.”

“Aww, come on, babe! It’s not that bad! Besides, _I’m_ here to warm you up.” He was giving you that sly grin of his, and you had to resist the urge to roll your eyes _again_. That wasn’t about to change your mind, regardless of how tempting it was.

“You can still warm me up. It’ll just have to be back at my place, where there’s heat...and working lights...and a working stove, and-“

“Alright, alright! I get it!” He held up his hands in mock surrender. Now it was your turn to grin slyly at him, having won. “Your place is cleaner, anyway,” he added, as if it was something that mattered to him. Which you knew it didn’t.

“Well come on, then. If we stand around here any longer, you’ll have an ice statue to decorate your office with instead of a girlfriend,” you joked as you turned to head back out the door. You grimaced a little at the thought of the long, _cold_ walk back to your place. At least you had a hot drink for the trip.

“You know, that wouldn’t be bad,” you gave him an incredulous look at that and for the third time, _almost_ rolled your eyes at him. But Dante hadn’t missed the grimace on your face before he’d made his teasing comment. You suddenly found yourself enveloped in another layer of warmth as his jacket (which you almost never saw him without) came around your shoulders. “But I think I much prefer having a girlfriend that lets me eat pizza whenever I want without lecturing me on how unhealthy it is.” He was smiling warmly at you and it was almost enough to chase all the cold away.

“Guess I’m the lucky one, then. You know, since you’re so nice,” you said it playfully, but you meant every word as you gestured to his coat that he’d lent you. It dwarfed you a bit, since he was so much taller than you, and you had to gather it up a bit in your free hand to make sure it didn’t drag as you started the trek to your place.

“That you are, sweetheart.”

You swore his ego would be the death of you. Thinking to bring him down a couple notches, you goaded him a bit, “You know what they say, right? Nice guys finish last.” You grinned cheekily at him.

He turned to face you as you walked along. It was still snowing, and you wondered briefly if you could convince him to trigger and fly you all the way home so you wouldn’t have to walk in the cold anymore. The smirk on his face had you momentarily distracted, though.

“Babe, nice guys only finish last-“ he was shooting finger guns at you now, “-because we make sure our women finish first.” He punctuated his statement with wink.

You did roll your eyes at _that_.

**Author's Note:**

> I can’t remember where I heard the “Nice guys only finish last because we make sure our women finish first” line but when I heard it I immediately thought, “This is something Dante would say.”


End file.
